Community Land Scotland, the Development Trusts Association Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Highland Small Communities Housing Trust have come together to form a Rural Renewal and Repopulation Working Group.

“Our intention is to contribute to a thriving rural Scotland by helping communities to increase their populations in demographically sustainable ways.  We already know that lots of people want to move to rural communities but that there are barriers around affordable housing, employment opportunities and access to services that prevent them from doing so. “

“We’ll be working with a wide range of stakeholders to influence policy and ensure that the necessary infrastructure, services and other support mechanisms are available to enable communities to take a leading role in shaping their own futures.  Our initial focus is on working with existing communities. We’ll also investigate how new settlements can contribute to the repopulation and renewal of rural Scotland as our work programme evolves”.  Dr Calum MacLeod Community Land Scotland’s Policy Director

It follows research by the James Hutton Institute flagging up an impending depopulation crisis in Scotland’s Sparsely Populated Areas. You can find out more here.

The mountain by the lake on Skye B Bell

Community Land Scotland’s 2019 conference Making Community Landownership Mainstream: Next Steps on Scotland’s Land Reform Journey will be on the 21st and 22nd June at Sabhal mor Ostaig in Skye.

It  will look ahead to a day when community landownership is mainstream in Scotland.

The 2019 Community Land Week will run from the 10th to the 18th August.

Reporter: Fiona Grahame